International flights for India to normalcy soon

International flight operations are expected to return to normal by the end of the year. According to Civil Aviation secretary Rajiv Bansal the aviation sector was one of the worst-hit sectors by the coronavirus pandemic as international passenger flights to and from India had to be suspended in March 2020 to curb the spread of the disease. He said the country's airports sector will get a massive boost as an investment worth Rs 90,000 crore is expected over the five-year period, starting 2020-21 financial year. Of the total investment, nearly Rs 68,000 crore will be coming from the private players and around Rs 20,000 to Rs 22,000 crore will be invested by the Airports Authority of India (AAI),

The government is also expecting to have 220 operational airports, including heliports, over five years. As of now, the country has 136 operational airports in the country, and many aerodromes are in the works.  Bansal said Air India likely to be handed over to the Tata group by the end of the year. “We are making efforts to handover all operations of Air India by the end of December,” While this will be the first privatisation since 2003-04, Air India will be the third airline brand in the Tatas' stable - it holds a majority interest in AirAsia India and Vistara, a joint venture with Singapore Airlines Ltd.